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Wednesday, September 28, 2011

Wednesday news and notes

From the AP:

Retired coaches Bill Cowher, Bill Parcells and Marty Schottenheimer are among the modern-era candidates for the 2012 class of the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

Cowher is eligible for the first time, as are Keyshawn Johnson, Tiki Barber, Drew Bledsoe, Stephen Davis, Rod Smith, Will Shields, Troy Vincent and Mike Vanderjagt.

Parcells and Schottenheimer previously were eligible under different requirements.

In 2008, the Hall of Fame made it mandatory for coaches, like players, to be retired five consecutive seasons. Before that, coaches were eligible immediately upon retirement, allowing Parcells to be a nominee in 2001, 2002, and 2003, and Schottenheimer in 2000. This is their first year of eligibility under the new provision.

© I don't think Cowher gets in this year - Dermontti Dawson seems to be a favorite, though.


If the players listed above, the only one who has a shot is Will Shields, but probably not this year.

Barber will get some push because he played in New York, but he's not Hall of Fame material, particularly not with Jerome Bettis and Curtis Martin still waiting to get in.

© Wide receiver Antonio Brown was fined $7,500 for his low block during an interception return against the Colts.

27 comments:

Anonymous said...

the nfl might as well just assign a dollar amount to every penalty. it's ridiculous that a first time offender is even fined for something like what brown did, let alone being fined at all.

how about legursky being fined earlier for a clipping penalty. what the heck? is that the first time ever someone has been fined for clipping?

yet no one is being fined for "legal chop blocks" though it is widely considered one of the dirtiest plays in football.

can you imagine MLB handing out $5,000 fines everytime a pitcher hit a batter? the NFL is a joke.

Eric T said...

The Legursky fine was him diving at the backs of some guys legs down field. He earned it.

Anonymous said...

oh, i didn't know that. well, that still reinforces my question as to how they don't fine linemen for the chop blocking to the back of our d-linemen.

Anonymous said...

Now I know The H.O.F. is a joke after seeing Drew Bledsoe's and Tiki barber's names on that list.

Anonymous said...

Hmm, maybe Cowher was waiting to get into the Hall and will be back to coaching next year. Makes one think

DAVE said...

How does a list of eligible players make the Hall of Fame a joke? It doesn't mean they get in, it just means they're eligible.

I think Bill Cowher is just waiting for a good job to open up, presumably hoping that Coughlin would have been fired from the NYG by now.

peabody said...

Dale,

DO you think Cohwer has a shot down the road? I would think 1 SB win and a fairly short career would keep him out.

Tough break for Antonio Brown. That's probably a good chunk of change for a late round rookie.

Patrick said...

its about 1.6% of his salary

I think hes ok.

Tim said...

The only player you named that I would even consider is Shields, and as far as I'm concerned he can get in line behind guys like Dawson, Cris Carter, Tim Brown, Andre Reed... I'd be okay if Rod Smith makes it in like 30 years, but no rush there. The rest of them don't need to get in ever.

bruinmann77 said...

Dale two questions one how can DD not make the hall this year.

2 any thoughts that Mendy might not be around past this contract.

Dale Lolley said...

Dawson, from what I'm hearing, is going to get in.

Yes, they've been fining for dangerous hits - penalized or non-penalized for years.

At this point, I don't see Mendenhall getting a second contract from the Steelers. But that could change. Willie Parker was outspoken about things at times as well. It's more about what you can do on the field.

Tim said...

Oh, and what Brown did is about 5% as dangerous as what every Guard in the league is going to start doing to Casey Hampton. I'll be amazed if he finishes the season NOT on IR.

The rules must change.

Anonymous said...

Just out of curiousity ... If a lineman was diving at Casey's knees and he was to say raise one of those trees he has for legs and his foot was to come crshing down on the aforementioned lineman's head; what's the call? Illegal placement of feet? Head stomping? Honestly if these lineman keep falling at his feet its just a matter of time before one gets his teeth kicked in. Talk about adding insult injury. Imagine him getting fined for stomping on some idiot that dove under his feet. Watching Big Snack using one hand to protect himself from guys diving at his knees is sad. He can defend himself but a reciever cannot? Give me a break! A receiver can protect themselves, guys get alligator arms all the time. Quaterbacks don't have to hang their receivers out there.

Anonymous said...

mendy can run better than he has so far this year, no doubt. but i think the majority of the blame has to reside with the poor blocking.

the one thing that concerns me most abouty mendy is the fact he carries the ball so low. i just don't understand how that has not been coached out of him yet.

dale, any insight there? is that something the coaches have tried to fix? is mendy considered an uncoachable player? just curious.

Anonymous said...

Obvious dumb question for all the blocking gurus or ex-lineman out there, I'm assuming there is a standard way to counter the cut blocking?

Seriously, this can't be the first time anyone has done this to Hampton or Smith. Hasn't there job for a decade been to basically stand their ground against double teams?

Have a linebacker come in and knock the stuffing out of the guard doing the cutting, or take that guard's legs out? Eyeball gouging?

Anonymous said...

Cut the cutter before he cuts you until it stops? Does that throw off your whole defense, though?

Anonymous said...

someone at work mentioned to me the d-line can run stunts and slants to mess with the chop blocking. not sure if that is right, just what he said. seems to make sense.

Anonymous said...

Over-under on receptions for Owen Daniels: 10

Anonymous said...

its not just Owen Daniels, they also have a good second TE in Dresser and some new guy that catches a lot of passes and is a TE/FB

but yes, those 3 guys will probably torch us with old and slow Farrior/Foote trying to cover them

Anonymous said...

won't the steelers try to cover daniels with #43 similar to how they try to handle gates for the chargers?

adamg said...

Probably the idea behind stunts and slants to counter the chop blocking is so the OL can't get his hands on the DLman to hold him for a partner in crime to deliver the chop.

Anonymous said...

Dale, is the recent trend of chop-blocking something that the Steelers aren't accustomed to? I didn't notice it being such an issue in previous seasons, only on a few occasions. But it seems that we have seen all three of the Steelers opponents this season use chop-blocking in their scheme to varying degrees against us. & if it's such an effective play, why don't the Steelers chop more often?

Dale Lolley said...

I'd go under on that Daniels number.

How many catches did Dallas Clark have last week? Was he even a factor?

They had him covered pretty well.

bruinmann77 said...

Dale who gets the hats for the OL on game day

Dale Lolley said...

The healthy guys. It's all they've got.

Anonymous said...

dale,
when comparing how many catches clark had to how many daniels might get i think you also need to consider who is throwing them the ball.

Anonymous said...

If the chop blocking is all that bad Casey just needs to fall and "strategically" place his knees in the back of the offender or some other tender spot. Casey is a very, very large man, I can't imagine anyone wanting him to fall on them more than once.